Canonical Voiceshttp://voices.canonical.com2013-06-11T16:42:01ZUbuntu App Developer Blog: Top 10 Ubuntu App Downloads for May2013-06-11T16:42:01ZJohn Pughnospam@nospam.comhttp://developer.ubuntu.com/2013/06/top-10-ubuntu-app-downloads-for-may/<p><a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/2013/06/top-10-ubuntu-app-downloads-for-may/may13top10/" rel="attachment wp-att-4313"><img src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/May13Top10.png" alt="" title="May13Top10" width="700" height="200" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-4313" /></a></p>
<p>Oh boy. June stormed in and the May installment is late! Not much changed at the top. The Northern Hemisphere spring storms keep Stormcloud at the top with Fluendo DVD staying put at the number two spot. Steam continues its top of the chart spree on the Free Top 10.</p>
<p>Want to develop for the new Phone and Tablet OS, Ubuntu Touch? Be sure to check out the <a title="Go Mobile" href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started/gomobile/" target="_blank">&#8220;Go Mobile&#8221;</a> site for details.</p>
<h2>Top 10 paid apps</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/stormcloud/" target="_blank">Stormcloud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/fluendo-dvd/" target="_blank">Fluendo DVD Player</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/filebot/" target="_blank">Filebot</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/quick-n-easy-web-builder/" target="_blank">Quick &#8216;n Easy Web Builder</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/mc-launcher/" target="_blank">MC-Launcher</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/miniminecraftlauncher/" target="_blank">Mini Minecraft Launcher</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/braid/" target="_blank">Braid</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/uberwriter/" target="_blank">UberWriter</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/drawers/" target="_blank">Drawers</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/bastion/" target="_blank">Bastion</a></li>
</ol>
<h2>Top 10 free apps</h2>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/steam/" target="_blank">Steam</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/motorbike/" target="_blank">Motorbike</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/master-pdf-editor/" target="_blank">Master PDF Editor</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/youtube-to-mp3/" target="_blank">Youtube to MP3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/screencloud/" target="_blank">Screencloud</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/nitro/" target="_blank">Nitro</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/splashtop-client/" target="_blank">Splashtop Remote Desktop App for Linux</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/crossover-trial/" target="_blank">CrossOver (Trial)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/plexmediaserver/" target="_blank">Plex Media Server</a></li>
<li><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/intellij-idea-ce/" target="_blank">IntelliJ IDEA 12 Community Edition</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Would you like to see your app featured in this list and on millions of user&#8217;s computers? It&#8217;s a lot easier than you think:</p>
<ul>
<li>If you&#8217;re just <strong>getting your feet wet</strong>, check out how to <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/get-started" target="_blank">get started with your first app in Ubuntu ›</a></li>
<li>If you have <strong>an existing app</strong> you&#8217;d like to deliver to the world, <a href="https://myapps.developer.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">submit it to the Ubuntu Software Center ›</a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Notes:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>The lists of top 10 app downloads includes only those applications submitted through <a href="https://myapps.developer.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">My Apps</a> on the <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">Ubuntu App Developer Site</a>. For more information about of usage of other applications in the Ubuntu archive, check out the <a href="http://popcon.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu Popularity Contest statistics</a>.</em></li>
<li><em>The top 10 free apps list contains gratis applications that are distributed under different types of licenses, some of which may not be open source. For detailed license information, please check each application&#8217;s description in the Ubuntu Software Center.</em></li>
</ul>
<p>Follow Ubuntu App Development on:</p>
<p><a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/feed"><img class="alignleft" title="Subscribe to the Ubuntu App Developer Blog" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/feed-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/ubuntuappdev"><img class="alignleft" title="Follow Ubuntu App Developers on Twitter!" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/twitter-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="http://identi.ca/ubuntuappdev"><img class="alignleft" title="Follow Ubuntu App Developers on Identi.ca!" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/identica-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ubuntuappdev"><img class="alignleft" title="Like the Ubuntu App Developers Facebook page!" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/facebook-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="https://plus.google.com/111697084657487423167/posts"><img class="alignleft" title="Add the Ubuntu App Developers page to your G+ circles!" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/google+-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Ubuntu-App-Developers-4196056"><img class="alignleft" title="Join the Ubuntu App Developers group on LinkedIn!" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/linkedin-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a><a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-app-devel"><img class="alignleft" title="Subscribe to the Ubuntu App Development mailing list" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/email-32x32.png" alt="" width="32" height="32" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/"><img class="alignleft" title="Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence" src="http://developer.ubuntu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/80x15.png?w=480" alt="" /></a><em><a href="http://paulrobertlloyd.com/2009/06/social_media_icons/">Social Media Icons</a> by <a href="http://paulrobertlloyd.com/">Paul Robert Lloyd</a></em></p>Darryl Weaver: Privacy of online searches in the Dash2012-12-08T03:14:09ZDarryl Weavernospam@nospam.comhttp://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/2012/12/08/privacy-of-online-searches-in-the-dash/<p>There has been some controversy over the features being added to the Dash to allow online searching, such as searching Amazon and Google Docs, etc. in Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal. But it is easy to manage.</p>
<p>If you work in a corporate environment or just want to retain privacy then you just need to modify the privacy features in the System Settings as follows:</p>
<p>Go to the top right of your screen and click on the System Menu and select System Settings.</p>
<p>In the System Settings window click on Privacy:</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-030939.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-15" src="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-030939-300x196.png" alt="" width="300" height="196" /></a></p>
<p>Then switch the online search from ON:</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-030202.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-16" src="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-030202-300x197.png" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To OFF:</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-031327.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-17" src="http://voices.canonical.com/darryl.weaver/files/2012/12/Screenshot-from-2012-12-08-031327-300x196.png" alt="" width="300" height="196" /></a></p>
<p>Simple!</p>Louis Bouchard: Installing Ubuntu Quantal with Full disk encryption2012-10-25T09:15:00Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2012/10/25/installing-ubuntu-quantal-with-full-disk-encryption/<p>For historical reasons, I have been installing my Ubuntu laptop on a fully encrypted disk for years. &nbsp;Up until now, I needed to use the alternate CD since this was the only possibility to install with full disk encryption.</p>
<p>This is no longer the case. &nbsp;If you want to use full disk encryption with Quantal Quetzal, you can use the standard installation CD and will be presented with the following options :</p>
<p><img src="http://caribou.kamikamamak.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2012/10/crypted_install1.png" alt="" width="600" height="373" /></p>
<p>You can then select the &laquo;&nbsp;Encrypt the new Ubuntu installation for security&nbsp;&raquo; option to request full disk encryption. Alternatively, you can elect to use LVM as I did, but this is not a requirement in order to get full disk encryption.</p>
<p>Kudos to the Ubuntu development team for making this option so simple now !</p>Canonical Blog: Ubuntu and Unite 20122012-08-28T18:02:05ZJohn Pughnospam@nospam.comhttp://blog.canonical.com/2012/08/28/ubuntu-and-unite-2012/<p><a href="http://unity3d/unite"><img src="http://blog.canonical.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/08/Unite2012-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1876" align="right" /></a><a href="http://blog.canonical.com/2012/06/20/another-major-game-platform-to-support-ubuntu-unity-4-to-support-ubuntu/" target="_blank">We’ve already written about</a> Unity Technologies, supporting <a href="http://blogs.unity3d.com/2012/07/03/linux-publishing-preview-what-how-and-wherefore-3/" target="_blank">publishing applications to Linux</a> in the next release of their platform, Unity 4.0. Canonical attended Unity&#8217;s <a href="http://unity3d.com/unite" target="_blank">Unite developer conference in Amsterdam</a>, held 21-24 August, to meet with the nearly 1,200 Unity employees and developers and see first hand what to expect in Unity 4.0.</p>
<p>In Amsterdam, the <a href="http://unity3d.com/unite/archive/2011" target="_blank">Unite keynote</a> kicked things off with an overview of the past few years and the evolution of Unity. Famed game designer Peter Molyneux, took to the stage and wowed the crowd with his latest game, the soon-to-be-renamed, Curiosity. The afternoon was filled with sessions geared towards developers who use Unity to create amazing games for all sorts of platforms. Thursday had a great session about how to use networking in Unity to create multiplayer games and how the new features in Unity 4.0 can make games come alive.</p>
<p>We already knew that Unity 4.0 is going to be unbelievable! The games that were showcased and won the <a href="http://unity3d.com/awards" target="_blank">Unity Awards</a> really raised the bar for Unity development. You can get the lowdown on what Unity 4.0 has to offer, how to upgrade and what you need to run it from the <a href="http://unity3d.com/unity/4/faq" target="_blank">FAQ</a>. The free version of Unity 4.0 will, when released in a few months, include the new Mecanim engine and everything you need to start making incredible games right away. If you need a bit more power, additional effects, more streaming options and other tools, you’ll want to take a look at the Unity Pro 4.0 version. Either way free or pro, the great news is that publishing to Ubuntu is included.</p>
<p>On Friday, David Pitkin and I presented to a eager crowd about how Ubuntu and Unity&#8217;s new publish-to-Linux feature would open up their applications to millions of users who have a keen interest in getting their game on and buying games on Ubuntu machines. During and after the sessions we were bombarded with questions about how to get started with Ubuntu and submission requirements for the Ubuntu Software Center. We can’t wait for so many awesome games to arrive on Ubuntu in the coming months.</p>
<p>We had a great time at Unite, met some wonderful developers, played some excellent games, and got the word out on Ubuntu Software Center and publishing games to millions of Ubuntu users.</p>
<p>Get <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">more information</a> about the Ubuntu Software Center and MyApps. Be sure to <a href="http://facebook.com/ubuntuappdev" target="_blank">like us</a> on Facebook and follow <a href="http://twitter.com/ubuntuappdev" target="_blank">@ubuntuappdev</a> on Twitter.</p>Canonical Blog: Another major game platform to support Ubuntu; Unity 4 to support Ubuntu2012-06-20T20:54:35ZJohn Pughnospam@nospam.comhttp://blog.canonical.com/2012/06/20/another-major-game-platform-to-support-ubuntu-unity-4-to-support-ubuntu/<p><a href="http://blog.canonical.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/06/tux_btf.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1724 alignright" src="http://blog.canonical.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/06/tux_btf.jpg" alt="" width="126" height="115" align="right" /></a>Unity Technologies <a title="Unity 4 Pre-order" href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/the-next-generation-of-the-unity-game-engine-unveiled-1670512.htm" target="_blank">announced</a> Monday that the next version of <a href="http://unity3d.com">Unity</a> will support <a href="http://unity3d.com/?linux" target="_blank">publishing to Ubuntu</a>. This is fantastic news because it will enable developers to deliver their new and existing games to Ubuntu users very easily.</p>
<p>The Unity 4 game engine delivers new features like the Mecanim animation technology and a boost in game fidelity to everyone from the independent developer to a major studio. For game developers the gaming engine provides the majority of the technologies required to deliver a game &#8211; including things like sound, graphics and physics. Game studios standardise on using an engine so they can spend their time on the aspects of their game that will be unique. For Ubuntu to be supported by game developers the gaming engines are a critical dependency &#8211; without them developers cannot port or target new games.</p>
<p>Unity Technologies made their name with independent developers who often target alternative platforms where they can stand out from the crowd of games created by the major studios. Unity Technologies is well known for their deep technology ability and for targeting alternative platforms such as Android. We have been in discussions with Unity Technologies since last summer as there is a lot of developer demand for a market ripe for awesome games. We are delighted to see Unity commit to publishing to Ubuntu &#8211; a significant commitment for a team handling so many platforms.</p>
<p>Following on from <a title="EA Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances" href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/tiberiumalliances" target="_blank">EA publishing games</a> to the Software Center in May and the <a title="Humble Bundle Supports Ubuntu" href="http://blog.humblebundle.com/post/24981005928/humble-indie-bundle-v-games-in-the-ubuntu-software" target="_blank">Humble Indie Bundle supporting Ubuntu</a> in June &#8211; the past several months have been fantastic for gaming on Ubuntu, and Unity 4 support of Ubuntu promises to make next year even better.</p>
<p>If you would like to get involved developing or porting games to Ubuntu with Unity during the beta you can <a title="Pre-order Unity 4" href="http://unity3d.com/?preorder" target="_blank">pre-order Unity 4 Pro</a>. In the meantime there are lots of resources available on The <a title="Ubuntu Developers" href="http://developer.ubuntu.com" target="_blank">Ubuntu Developer</a> site. This month we are running the <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/showdown/" target="_blank">Ubuntu App Showdown</a> contest with fantastic prizes for the best apps developed.</p>Louis Bouchard: Amazon Music Store’s MP3 on Precise2012-06-05T10:37:18Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2012/06/05/amazon-music-stores-mp3-on-precise/<p>One nice thing about Banshee was the seemless integration of the Amazon MP3 store. Since I reinstalled my laptop on Precise, I know have Rhythmbox instead of Banshee which does not seems to offer the same kind of integration.</p>
<p>Luckily for me, I found a nice little hack that will help me get my favorite non-DRMed MP3 files on Ubuntu :</p>
<p><a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1955149">http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1955149</a></p>
<p>In short, install <strong>clamz</strong> that will allow you to read &amp; download the .amz files that the Amazon music store sends when you buy music.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>Canonical Blog: Humble Indie Bundle 5 comes to the Ubuntu Software Centre2012-05-31T18:05:52ZDavid Pitkinnospam@nospam.comhttp://blog.canonical.com/2012/05/31/humble-indie-bundle-5-comes-to-the-ubuntu-software-centre/<p><a href="http://www.humblebundle.com/?utm_source=ubuntu" target="_blank"><img class=" wp-image-1622 alignright" src="http://blog.canonical.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/05/hib-thumb-1.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" align="right" hspace="10" vspace="10" /></a>Good news for Ubuntu gamers! We’re excited to be partnering with the Humble Indie Bundle for their newest collection of incredible games, which is available now. This means that following the purchase of the games from <a href="http://www.humblebundle.com/?utm_source=ubuntu" target="_blank">Humble Bundle</a>, Ubuntu users will be able to install their games on Ubuntu more easily than ever, using the <a title="Ubuntu Software Centre" href="http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/features/ubuntu-software-centre">Ubuntu Software Centre</a>.</p>
<p>The Ubuntu Software Centre provides the easiest and safest way to install software on Ubuntu &#8211; not just for the games in the Humble Indie Bundle but also for thousands of desktop applications.</p>
<p>Just like previous releases, the Humble Indie Bundle 5 lets customers name their own price, paying only what they think the software is worth. The proceeds are then split between the game developers, charities and the Humble Bundle organizers. For this bundle, the chosen charities are <a title="EFF" href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a> and <a href="http://www.childsplaycharity.org/">Child&#8217;s Play</a>.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve also committed to contribute $100 to this bundle for every Humble Indie Bundle 5 game page on the <a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/" target="_blank">Ubuntu App Directory</a> that receives 5,000 Facebook likes. So please help us spread the word and let&#8217;s get captivating puzzle-platformer <em><a href="https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/limbo/" target="_blank">LIMBO</a></em> to 5,000 first.</p>
<p>Developers who would like to learn more about adding their games to the Ubuntu Software Centre can check out our <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com/" target="_blank">developer site</a>, follow <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ubuntuappdev" target="_blank">UbuntuAppDev</a> on Twitter and like our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ubuntuappdev" target="_blank">App Developer</a> Facebook Page.</p>
<p>Pay what you want for a great bundle of games that couldn&#8217;t be easier to install.</p>Louis Bouchard: One year at Canonical2012-04-04T14:27:50Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2012/04/04/one-year-at-canonical/<p>One year ago, I had done my last day after thirteen years with Digital Equipment Corp which became Compaq, then HP. &nbsp;After starting on Digital Unix/Tru64, I had evolved to a second level support position in the Linux Global Competency Center.</p>
<p>In a few days, on the 18th, I will have completed my first full year as a Canonical employee. I think it is time to take a few minutes to look back at that year.</p>
<p>Coming from a RHEL/SLES environment with a bit of Debian, my main asset was the fact that I &nbsp;had been an Ubuntu user since 5.04, using it as my sole operating system on my corporate laptop. The first week in the new job was also a peculiar experience, as it brought me back to my native country and to Montr&eacute;al, a city that I love and where I lived for three years. &nbsp;So I was not totally lost in my new environment. I also had the chance of ramping up my knowledge of Ubuntu Server, which was an easy task. &nbsp;What was more surprizing and became one of the most exciting part of the new job is to work in a completely dedicated opensource environment from day one.</p>
<p>Rapidly I became aware of the fact that, participating in the Ubuntu community was not only possible, but it was expected. &nbsp;That if I were to find a bug, I needed to report it and, if possible find ways to fix it. &nbsp;In my previous job I was looking for existing solutions, or bringing in enough elements to my L3 counterpart that they would be able to request a fix to Red Hat or Novell. &nbsp;Here if I was able to identify the problem and suggest a solution, I was encouraged to propose it as the final fix. &nbsp;I also rapidly found out that the developpers were no longer the remote engineers in some changelog file, but IRC nicks that I could chat with and eventually meet.</p>
<p>Then came about Openstack in the summer : a full week of work with colleagues aimed at getting to know the technology, trying to master concepts that were very vague back then and making things work. &nbsp;Getting Swift Object Store up and running and trying to figure out how best this could be used. &nbsp;Here I was asked to do one of the think I like best : learning by getting things to work. This lead to a better understanding of what a cloud architecture was all about and really made me understand how useful and interesting a cloud infrastructure can be. Oh, and I did get to build my first openstack cloud.</p>
<p>This was another of this past year&rsquo;s great experience : UDS-P. I had heard of UDS-O when I joined but it was too early for me to attend. &nbsp;But after six months around it was time for UDS-P and, this time, I would be there. &nbsp;Not only I had time to meet a good chunk of developpers, but I also got a lot of work done. &nbsp;Like helping Michael Terry fix a bug on Deja-Dup that would only appear on localized systems, get advices on fixing kdump with the kernel team and some of the foundation engineers and a whole lot more.</p>
<p>Then came back the normal work for our customers, fixing their issues, trying to help improve their support experience and get better at what we do. And also seeing some of my fixes make it into our upcoming distribution and also back to the existing ones. &nbsp;This was a great thrill and an objective that I did not think would come by so fast.</p>
<p>Being part of the Ubuntu community has been a great addition to my career. This makes me want to do even more and get the best out of our collective efforts.</p>
<p>This was a great year. Sure hope that the next one will be even better.</p>Louis Bouchard: Customer support the Ubuntu way2012-01-18T09:08:13Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2012/01/18/customer-support-the-ubuntu-way/<p>Recently, I have realized a major difference in how customer support is done on Ubuntu.</p>
<p>As you know, Canonical provides official <a href="http://www.canonical.com/consumer-services">customer support</a> for Ubuntu both on server and desktop. This is the work I do : provice customer with the best level of support on the Ubuntu distribution. This is also what I was doing on my previous job, but for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server distributions.</p>
<p>The major difference that I recently realized is that, unlike my previous work with RHEL &amp; SLES, the result of my work is now available to the whole Ubuntu community, not just to the customers that may for our support.</p>
<p>Here is an example. Recently one of our customer identified a <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vm-builder/+bug/531599">bug</a> with vm-builder in a very specific case. The work that I did on this bug resulted in a patch that I submitted to the developers who accepted its inclusion in the code. In my previous life, this fix would have been made available only to customers paying a subscription to the vendors through their official update or service pack services.</p>
<p>With Ubuntu, through Launchpad and the regular community activity, this fix will become available to the whole community through the standard <strong>-updates</strong> channel of our public archives.</p>
<p>This is true for the vast majority of the fixes that are provided to our customers. As a matter of fact, the public archives are almost the only channel that we have to provide fixes to our customers, hence making them available to the whole Ubuntu community at the same time. This is different behavior and something that makes me a bit prouder of the work I&rsquo;m doing.</p>Louis Bouchard: Mounting fully encrypted hard disk.2011-09-26T14:40:49Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2011/09/26/mounting-fully-encrypted-hard-disk/<p>While testing Oneiric on a separate disk, I wanted to get some files off my laptop&rsquo;s hard drive which is hosting my normal Natty&rsquo;s install.&nbsp; Keeping with a previous setup, I had installed my laptop with a fully encrypted hard disk, using the alternate CD, so I needed a procedure to do this manually.</p>
<p>Previously, I had tested booting the Natty LiveCD and, to my enlightened surprise, the Livce CD did see the encrypted HD and proceeded to ask for the passphrase in order to mount it.&nbsp; But this time, I&rsquo;m not running off the LiveCD, but from a complete install which is on a separate hard drive.&nbsp; Since it took me a while to locate the proper procedure, I thought that I would help google a bit so it is not so deep in the pagerank for others next time.&nbsp; But first, thanks to UbuntuGeek&rsquo;s article <a href="http://www.ubuntugeek.com/rescue-an-encrypted-luks-lvm-volume.html">Rescue and encrypted LUKS LVM volume</a> for providing the solution.</p>
<p>Since creating an encrypted Home directory is easily achieved with standard installation methods, there are many references to how to achieve it for encrypted private directory. <a href="http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2011/04/introducing-ecryptfs-recover-private.html">Dustin Kirkland&rsquo;s blog</a> is a very good source of information on those topics. But dealing with an encrypted partition requires a different approach. Here it is (at least for an encrypted partition done using the Ubuntu alternate DVD) :</p>
<p>First of all, you need to make sure that lvm2 and cryptsetup packages are installed. If not, go ahead and install them</p>
<p><font>&nbsp;# sudo aptitude install cryptsetup lvm2</font></p>
<p>Then verify if the dm-crypt module is loaded and load it if it is not</p>
<p><font>&nbsp;# sudo modprobe dm-crypt</font></p>
<p>Once this is done, open&nbsp; the LUKS partition (using your own encrypted partition name) :</p>
<p>&nbsp;# sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda3 crypt1</p>
<p>You should have to provide the passphrase that is used to unlock your crypted partition here.</p>
<p>Once this is done, you must scan for the LVM volume groups :</p>
<p>&nbsp;# sudo vgscan &#8211;mknodes<br />&nbsp;# sudo vgchange -ay</p>
<p>There, you should get the name of the volume group that will be needed to mount the encrypted partition (which happens to be configured as an LVM volume). You can now procede to mount your partition (changing {volumegroup} with the name that you collected in the previous command ) :</p>
<p># sudo mount /dev/{volumegroup}/root /mnt</p>
<p>Your encrypted data should now be available in the /mnt directory <img src="http://caribou.kamikamamak.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":-)" class="wp-smiley" /> </p>Louis Bouchard: Oneiric first drive2011-09-15T08:28:07Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2011/09/15/oneiric-first-drive/<p>Ok, I finally got a few minutes to start testing Oneiric Beta 1 on my HP Elitebook 8440p. Since it is the computer that I use on my daily job, I preferred to launch it using a USB key and not to jeopardize my Natty&#8217;s working installation.</p>
<p>It is not by lack of faith toward my fellow developers, but rather because I would hate to be unable to serve our customers following known bugs being applied to my gear. So here are my first thought. I will follow up by visiting the &#8220;known bug&#8221; section to see if the things that I encountered have already been fixed.</p>
<p>And since I&#8217;m using a live USB setup, my first test is on the packages found on the Beta1 DVD image. I didn&#8217;t get to run an update to get fresher packages yet.</p>
<p><span>Video</span></p>
<p>My first great pleasure is to realize that I no longer have to rely on the Nvidia proprietary drivers to get started. Of course, I only get access to Unity 2D, but at least I have an environment that is very similar to the 3D version (I really can&#8217;t see the difference). But I&#8217;m not a big user of animations and things like that. Another great thing is that I only had to go to the &#8220;Display&#8221; section, activate my second 19&#8243; screen, put the appropriate screen definition and the second display started to work.</p>
<p>One thing though : the Dash menu which used to appear on the far left of the leftmost screen in Natty (normal behavior) now appears on the left of the laptop&#8217;s screen (my 2nd screen is at the left of the laptop) so the Dash selection area is in the middle of my workspace.</p>
<p><span>Peripherals</span></p>
<p>Wireless works out of the box, but this is nothing new. Same with the built-in webcam. As I already indicated, Dual-screen is also working out of the box, but apparently without the 3D acceleration.</p>
<p><span>User Interface</span></p>
<p>The first thing I noticed after typing the &#8220;Super&#8221; key and typing &#8220;term&#8221; to get a CLI environment is that, after hitting &lt;TAB&gt; to select the terminal Icon, I no longer have a graphical return (i.e. the icon doesn&#8217;t get highlighted). It still seems to work as if I hit &lt;Return&gt;, the terminal does get launched. Maybe a side effect of using Unity 2D.</p>
<p>As with the Dash menu, the lens do appear on the right screen (laptop screen) unlike with Natty. One thing that is no longer working is the workspace switcher. Clicking on it in the Dash does display all four workspaces, but when I select any workspace, it always brings me back to the first one. Might be some wrong setup.</p>
<p><span>Software</span></p>
<p>So far, I have had a few crashes (software library, Compiz manager) but most things seem to work. The software library crashes have forced me to drop back to CLI to get things installed. UbuntuOne works flawlessly</p>
<p>It is now time to go back to my daytime job, which is fixing our customer&#8217;s problems. Hopefully, I&#8217;ll have some more time to explore Oneiric before it ships out. But I really like my first impression.</p>Louis Bouchard: My very own little wiki2011-07-13T09:07:24Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2011/07/13/my-very-own-little-wiki/<p>Having a linux based distribution as the operating system on my laptop has many advantages.&nbsp; One of them is to be able to easily run an apache instance and use my laptop as a local webserver.&nbsp; This has allowed me to run my very own private mediawiki instance on my laptop and to use it as a note keeping engine.&nbsp; So the landing page on my web browser looks like this :
<div align="center"><img src="http://caribou.kamikamamak.com/files/2011/07/mywiki.jpg" height="458" width="639" /></div>
<p>Two main advantages of this is that, if I intend to publish some of my notes as a public wiki page, there is minimal effort involved in migrating the data to a public Wiki. Otherwise, I can use the search function to find information on a specific topic, see if I have done things on that subject, etc.</p>
<p>It has been a very useful tool to me and I thought I&#8217;d share that experience.</p>Canonical Blog: Bridge Construction Set lands on the Software Center2011-06-29T16:30:10ZJohn Pughnospam@nospam.comhttp://blog.canonical.com/2011/06/29/bridge-construction-set-lands-on-the-software-center/<p><a href="http://www.chroniclogic.com">Chronic Logic&#8217;s</a> award winning game, <a href="http://www.chroniclogic.com/pontifex2.htm">Bridge Construction Set</a>, is officially <a href="http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/bcs">for sale in the Ubuntu Software Center</a>. In Bridge Construction Set you build a bridge that hopefully does not break, however having a train plunge into the depths below may be fun for some!</p>
<p>You must use your physics knowledge to build a bridge then test your skills by running a test vehicle over the bridge. If it makes it across you know you have constructed a good bridge. With 40 unique levels one can build suspension bridges, draw bridges, and others with many different types of materials. Bridge Construction Set allows you to test your creation with 15 different test vehicles.</p>
<p>Check out the Bridge Construction Set trailer:</p>
<p></p>
<p>Now go <a href="http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/bcs">buy it from the Software Center</a> today!</p>
<p>Have a game or application you want to host on Ubuntu? Head over to the <a href="http://developer.ubuntu.com">Developer pages</a> to see how to add your creation! Contact John Pugh (john dot pugh at canonical dot com) for details on selling your application on the Ubuntu Software Center.</p>Canonical Blog: Puzzle Moppet hits the Ubuntu Software Center2011-06-28T19:17:06ZJohn Pughnospam@nospam.comhttp://blog.canonical.com/2011/06/28/puzzle-moppet-hits-the-ubuntu-software-center/<p>The newest addition to the Ubuntu Software Center is <a href="http://garnetgames.com/puzzlemoppet">Puzzle Moppet</a> from <a href="http://garnetgames.com">Garnet Games</a>. The poor little Moppet is lost and all alone in the wilderness. How are you going to help it get out? This interesting game requires you to solve puzzles to help Moppet find it&#8217;s way. Puzzle Moppet is a challenging 3D puzzle game featuring a diminutive and apparently mute creature who is lost in a mysterious floating landscape.</p>
<p>With brain melting puzzles you have to guide the Moppet through the vast and eternal void of space, navigating ice blocks, exploding blocks, balloons, elevators and more. Test your brain with over 30 true 3D puzzles ranging from the delightfully docile to the devilishly devious.</p>
<p>The sun blooms as the clouds slowly roll by, a rising sea breeze howls softly as it roams the void. Immerse yourself in the lonely tranquillity of this mysterious other world.</p>
<p>Do you have what it takes to save the Moppet?</p>
<p>Check out the trailer:</p>
<p></p>
<p>Now go <a href="http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/puzzle-moppet">buy and install Puzzle Moppet</a> on your Ubuntu desktop! </p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Puzzle-Moppet/147984398606153">Save The Moppet!</a></strong></p>Louis Bouchard: When technology simply works…2011-06-24T08:10:19Zcaribounospam@nospam.comhttp://caribou.kamikamamak.com/2011/06/24/when-technology-simply-works/<p>In my job as a support engineer, I spend my day trying to fix problem. So it is refreshing when, sometimes, the technology that we&#8217;re providing simply works.</p>
<p>Like this morning when I decided to test a total autonomous laptop setup. By that I mean that I will on the road tonight and might need internet access for m y laptop.&nbsp; So I went ahead and configured my Android HTC Desire to act as a WiFi Hotspot.&nbsp; Then I switched my laptop&#8217;s Wireless connection to the SSID that was broadcast by my phone; it connected right away.</p>
<p>Now since I&#8217;ll be in a car, I need to have some kind of headset to avoid street noises. So I powered my bluetooth&nbsp; earphone that I had previously configured to be recognized by my laptop. I went in the notification area and selected the Bluetooth applet &amp; saw that my earphone was been seen. So I connected it.&nbsp; Now the only thing that doesn&#8217;t totally work as I would expect is that I needed to change the whole sound setup of my laptop to send all input and output to my earphone. I&#8217;m expecting to use Twinkle for phone calls, and it is the only way I found to have the earphone work properly. If someone knows how to be more selective and have Twinkle use the Bluetooth earphone, I&#8217;m a taker.</p>
<p>But this is not a show stopper.&nbsp; So I fired up Twinkle, connected to my SIP account and dialed my home phone : Drriiiinngg!!!</p>
<p>So I&#8217;m there, with my Android phone connecting me to the Internet, my laptop acting as a telephone, while I still have full laptop functionality. I must say that I&#8217;m impressed. Don&#8217;t get me wrong : I&#8217;ve been using Ubuntu since Hoary, and Debian before that.&nbsp; But nowaday, with all the great work done on those tools, it make rather complex setups work smoothly.</p>
<p>Bravo !</p>